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“As “One can be free, but in fact a slave. When he serves other men whose goals are evil – whether they are gluttony, or the Lord taughtlust for riches, or political power – such a person, whatever even though he is not crucified will not be resurrectedfree, and whatever does not die will not live foreveris more a slave than any other man.” —Archbishop Zachariah of Essex—St. John Chrysostom
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“What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.” —Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“As the Lord taught, whatever is not crucified will not be resurrected, and whatever does not die will not live forever.” —Archbishop Zachariah of Essex
“If you die before you die, than when you die, you will not die.” —written on a cell wall, St. Paul's Monastery, Mt. Athos
“Not knowing God's intentions and judgments concerning us, in troubles, sorrows and illnesses we often, often complain to God that He punishes us beyond our strength and beyond our faults, but when the misfortunes and God's punishing visitation end, then even a little attention to ourselves convinces us that the sorrow was both useful and necessary for us, because it made us morally better and more attentive to ourselves, to our spiritual needs. If the heavenly Physician of souls had not given us the sharp and burning medicine of sorrow, then we would not have known the madness and destructiveness of sin, would not have turned away from it, would not have returned to the path of truth, duty and honor, would not have tasted the sweetness of virtue; we would not have known that in God, only in God is all our good: peace of soul, strength, light, glory, its life, true joy and ineffable sweetness. A true Christian is formed only under the cross: whoever does not bear the cross, that is, temptations, sorrows, deprivations, cannot be a true Christian, he is always a slave to sin, sinful habits and passions.” —St. John of Kronstadt
“If you want, or rather intend, to take a splinter out of another person, then do not hack at it with a stick instead of a lancet, for you will only drive it in deeper.” —St. John Climacus
“O God, grant us a deeper sense of fellowship with all living things, our little brothers and sisters to whom in common with us you have given this earth as home. We recall with regret that in the past we have acted high-handedly and cruelly in exercising our domain over them. Thus, the voice of the earth which should have risen to you in song has turned into a groan of travail. May we realize that all these creatures also live for themselves and for you - not for us alone. They too love the goodness of life, as we do, and serve you better in their way than we do in ours. Amen.” —St. Basil the Great
“Tears are the eternal right of grief. And there is so much grief on earth that every joy is shrouded in sorrow. And no one causes people so much pain as we do to each other. Among animals there are predators and herbivores. Some pursue others. And so it is among people. Some offend, others suffer. What to choose? To offend others or to endure insults? Without a doubt, it is more profitable, easier, and more convenient to live without a heart and conscience. A person without a heart and conscience is not bound by anything. But for God, he is a stranger. He cannot be a Christian. A Christian must follow the path that Christ walked.” —Protopresbyter Pavel Adelgeim
“We follow the ways of wolves, the habits of tigers: or, rather we are worse than they. To them nature has assigned that they should be thus fed, while God has honoured us with rational speech and a sense of equity. And yet we are become worse than the wild beast.” —St. John Chrysostom